Red Riding Hood
by VannuroRB
Summary: On his way to his grandfathers house, Yugi gets lost in the woods, can he face the wolf on his own? Prompt exchange challenge.


_Prompt: Red Riding Hood._

My first time doing this prompt challenge, so I hope that I've done it right and stuff.

I tried to go a little creepy and artsy with this one…in short, it's crap. I'm so sorry. So very sorry.

* * *

Red Riding Hood~

"Yugi, my dear" Called his mother "Could you come here please?"

Yugi abandoned his chores and walked into the kitchen, his mother stood by the table, draping a small cloth over the contents of a straw made basket "Yugi, could you take these to your grandfather? He is sick and needs the goods in this basket, can you take them?"

"Of course mama" Yugi moved closer to the table, picking up the basket, and hooking the handle over his arm.

"Good boy. In the basket is a loaf of bread, a jar of honey, and some medicine to help his illness. They are all for him, and he must have them. Do you understand Yugi?"

"Yes mama".

"Good boy. You must take the road through the woods to his house, but don't get distracted for he needs the basket urgently, you must go to his house immediately, understood?"

"Yes mama".

"Good boy. You can go now Yugi".

"Goodbye mama".

On his way out of his home, Yugi stopped at the door to slip into his sneakers and to put his red jacket on, before stepping out into the street and taking the path down to his grandfather's house.

The forest laid on the outskirts of town, and not too far from Yugi's own home, so the walk to the forest only took a few brisk minutes to reach. A small dirt track cut through the middle of the growing trees, leading off to the other town beyond the woods, and to his grandfather's house somewhere along its path. The trees grew tall and dark the further it went into the forest, and the only few flowers that grew inside it, were faint in colour and wilted easily. The canopy of the leaves blocked off any light reaching inside, and a cold and despairing mist always hung around the trees like a noose, waiting to snatch up any victims. The forest was not a safe place to play in, but the bright and contrasting path cutting through made it look otherwise, leading the correct path for any wondering travellers.

Yugi hummed a small tune to himself as he walked on, looking up to the tops of the trees when he heard a cawing crow, but continued along to his destination nevertheless. He stopped briefly to kneel down at the side of the road, a clump of small white daisies had caught his attention, and he began to pick each flower to put into the basket. He placed them along the edge of the basket, so they would not get crushed by the items in the basket, and that he had a good view of them on his trip.

Yugi raised his head when he heard a giggle, turning to look behind him, he saw his mirror image standing by a tree. The young male was smiling and chuckling quietly at Yugi, despite the red liquid smeared over the left side of his body, and staining his once pure white underwear. He gave one last giggle at the male, before giving him a small gesture with his hand, beckoning Yugi to follow him into the woods.

Leaving the basket on the ground, Yugi stood up on his feet, and followed his mirror image into the dark and disorientating woods ahead of them.

Yugi could barely see his way around the forest, which had turned to near black, and blended every shadow with every object to make it impossible to navigate. The only thing that stood out was Yugi's mirror image, which almost shone like a bright beacon, due to his blood stained white clothes. He never lost sight of his twin, for even if he ended up lingering behind for one reason or another, his duplicate stopped as well and waited for him to catch up. He could not afford to lose Yugi to the woods just yet, as he had much to show him.

The doppelganger ran deeper and deeper into the woods, forcing both he and Yugi to be swallowed by the complete darkness of the woods, and unable to return to the bright path Yugi had once stood on. After a while however, the twin began to slow down, and ended up skipping to their destination rather than running. It gave Yugi a moment to catch up with his duplicate, watching the carefree boy skip gaily over the dark forest floor, though there was little his twin had to fear about the dark forest.

Yugi ceased moving for a moment, feeling something hard come under his shoe, and refused to be pressed into the forest floor. Sensing its stubborn nature, Yugi moved his shoe off the object, to inspect what it was. A soft, lime green tennis ball was pressed into the ground, smears of dirt were rubbed into its side from its abandonment. Yugi reached down to pick it up, brushing off some of the loose filth caught up in its fur, and lightly tossed it up and down in his hand with a smile.

"What's a ball doing out here?" Yugi queried to himself, continuously throwing the ball up and down in one hand "Surely a person could not throw a ball this far".

"Yugi".

Yugi looked around for the deep voice, perplexed that someone else was in the forest with him, and he had not noticed their arrival. A few feet ahead of him stood a familiar man, almost hidden within the shadows of the forest, but still recognisable to Yugi despite his shrouded appearance.

"Papa?" Yugi called out, taking a few uncertain steps towards the male.

"Throw the ball Yugi" He encouraged, holding his hands out.

Yugi stopped moving, looking down at the ball in his hands, before smiling lightly at the memory. With his fingers coiled around the ball, Yugi leant his arm back, and threw the ball to his father. The man had to take a few steps back, but he managed to catch the flying ball, giving a small chuckle when he caught it and held it up to show the teen.

"Good throw Yugi!" He praised, tossing the ball back and forth between his hands "I'm going to throw it back now, you ready?"

Yugi gave a nod, watching his father pull back his arm, before throwing it back to his son. Yugi watched it curve up in the air, before plummeting back to the ground, and being caught by Yugi's waiting hands. His father praised him some more on his catch, and encouraged him to throw it back, creating a small game of throw and catch between the two. It carried on for a few turns, until Yugi caught the ball and discarded it, running over to his father instead.

Feeling discontent with just playing the small game, Yugi hugged his father tightly and buried his face within his chest, getting the oddly comforting reminder that his father was much taller than he was. After having returned the hug to Yugi, the teen pulled away and grabbed his father's hand, persuading him to walk with him through the darkened forest. Neither spoke to each other, they were satisfied with just being near one another, so they held tightly to their locked hands and continued walking through the forest.

However, after walking for a while, Yugi's father picked up his pace so that their hands slipped away. Yugi stared confused as his father continued walking ahead, not stopping to check on Yugi who had stopped some feet behind him, and watched as his father walked and disappeared into the shadows ahead of them. Yugi stood still, numb on his insides as he yearned for his father to return, expecting it to be a prank from him. But deep down, he knew that it was nothing of the sort. He wanted to call out, but would his father even hear him? Or would he even listen to his son? Knowing he would be ignored, Yugi kept his mouth firmly shut, and let his body be eaten by the fact his father was not going to return.

Hearing the familiar giggle, Yugi turned his head to look in all directions, seeing his bloody twin stand near a tree. He gave Yugi another swift gesture of his hand, begging him to follow, as he turned and skipped away happily once more. With a small jog, Yugi hurried to catch up with his mirror image, but once close enough Yugi settled with a slow and somewhat stumbling walk behind him.

The twin led Yugi further on into the woods, prancing along with his cheerful tune, and uncaring of Yugi's sombre emotions behind him. While waiting for Yugi to stagger after him, his twin stopped and occasionally picked the dreary flowers from the forest floor, pulling the petals off and watching them flutter down to the ground. Once Yugi was back in range of his twin, the other Yugi would drop the dead flower he held, before skipping away through the woods again. Leading him further away from his destination, and deeper into his own despair.

Yugi lifted his head up when he heard a creak, curious as to why that would disrupt his thoughts, and proceeded after his twin with inquisitiveness once more. Soon, the trees disappeared, and gave way to an old playground. A rusted fence was built around it to protect it from any danger, inside the fence was several playthings left to rot, and occasionally creaked in misery at their abandoned state. Weeds grew from every crack and crevice of the asphalt and wooden structures, and the once vibrant and friendly colours of the playground, had turned dull and were splashed with mold. Despite its aged and repulsive sight, Yugi pulled a small smile, remembering the fond occasions he visited the playground.

"My playground…" Yugi whispered, stepping in through the front gate "Where I can play, and the bad things stay away".

A high pitched squeak came nearby, making Yugi turn and stare at the seesaw, hearing it give another tormenting squeak again. His twin sat at one end, weighing down the chipped wooden seats, playfully bouncing up and down so it would make noise. However, when he had caught Yugi's attention, he stopped and simply patted the wood to the teen. Picking up the hint Yugi walked closer, and pushed on the wood so it touched the floor, and sat down on the other end.

His twin gave a giggle in the air, waiting for Yugi to kick off from the ground, and proceed to play with his twin. Even after what Yugi had gone through, he managed to find himself smiling and chuckling at the light play, reminiscing of the times he used to play at the playground as a child. Though, admittedly, it was by himself and without his newfound friend.

After a while, his twin stopped playing on the seesaw, and quickly stepped off it before running around. Yugi's end hit the ground hard, making him cringe at the sound, before he got off and followed his doppelganger around the playground. His bloody twin quickly climbed up the steps, and let his body go down the slide, before jumping up on his feet and running around once more. He soon reached the swings, only two vacant swings were left hanging on the metal support, and looked rather unsafe to use. Nevertheless, his duplicate sat himself on one seat, and began to rock himself gently back and forth. As Yugi approached the swings, he watched his other half gain height and speed, causing the swing set to groan and shudder with every movement.

Yugi gave a smile, and sat himself on the remaining seat, feeling it strain to hold his weight up. After his seat had adjusted to Yugi, he decided against joining his mirror image in swinging, and settled with just relaxing on his swing. His shoes lightly shifted the loose dirt underneath the swing, reminding him of a time where he could not use the swings at all, since his legs were too short to reach the ground.

"Hey! Yugi's here!"

Yugi lifted his head up at the young voices, and a small ball of dread grew in his stomach, as he watched the young children stand in front of him. Though they were younger and much smaller than Yugi was, there was still a strong intimidating air about them, which made Yugi hang his head in submission.

"What are you doing here Yugi?" One of the boys asked, a sneer being distinct in his voice "You know your legs won't touch the ground ever again!"

As the boys laughed loudly at their teases, Yugi sunk his head even lower, listening to their old childish taunts towards him. Though he expected the hateful words, he could not help but cringe at their teases, feeling every sewn tear pull apart once again.

"Yugi is so stupid!"

"Yugi is so small and sickly!"

"No one likes Yugi!"

"Yugi is so worthless!"

"Yugi should die and leave everyone alone!"

There was a loud wail, making Yugi lift his head up, and stare to the playground around him. The children had gone, though their distant laughs were audible on the breeze, they were easily overshadowed by the loud crying of a child. Yugi looked over his shoulder, seeing the young child who had been crying behind him, his younger form that he had grown out from. The child continued to wail endlessly, streams of tears washed down his cheeks, as he cried uncontrollably into his hands. It was a sight that Yugi had experienced many times, and had tried to forget the hard times.

Yugi looked back to his younger self as he gave another shrill wail, rubbing his red watery eyes, waiting for someone to come reassure him. But with his twin rocking back and forth happily on the swing, and knowing that his younger self would not be able to see nor hear him, the young child was left to cry out his misery on his own.

The younger Yugi took off into a run, going in between the two swings and running out of the playground, heading off into the dark woods alone. Yugi stood up from the swinging seat, alerting his twin of his action, so came to a skidding halt by his side. Regardless if he could be seen or not, he knew that letting his childhood self go off into the woods alone was dangerous, and felt compelled to follow after him. Yugi took off into his own run, following the child Yugi into the woods, with his duplicate happily skipping behind him once again.

The sobbing could be heard loud and clear through the forest, though the absence of his appearance made it hard for Yugi to spot his younger self, but Yugi persisted to search for him regardless. Yugi's foot caught on an uprooted vein of a tree, tripping him up in his run, and caused him to stumble on his feet before he managed to get his balance back. Once standing back to normal height, Yugi looked around for the child, hearing the crying turn to soft sniffles and sobs.

The young child was sitting in between two trees, using his sleeves as a tissue to wipe his tears away, and trembling gasps to soothe his upsetting state. Nevertheless, he was safe in the forest, which made Yugi relax more, knowing that his childhood self was safe yet again.

"Mutou" A hand touched the hair of the child, making his tear stained face look up at the man, who smiled down at him "What are you doing on your own? Why are you crying?"

The young child gave a sniffle, before bursting into louder tears, and burying his face into the man's stomach. He cried helplessly into the man's clothes, allowing the man to stroke over his hair, while he gripped tightly to his body. He let Yugi cry into him some more, before holding his shoulders, and gently peeled Yugi away so he stood on his own. Yugi rubbed his eyes, before watching the man kneel down to his level, smiling as Yugi attempted to cease his crying.

"Come, you can tell me about it" He soothed, stroking Yugi's cheeks "Let's talk about this in private, shall we?"

He scooped his arms around Yugi, bringing the young child back to his body again, so that Yugi was forced to hold tightly to his clothes yet again. He lifted Yugi up from the ground, setting the child upon his hip, and carried him into the woods. The young child rested his head against the man's shoulder, sobbing loudly into his clothes the further they walked away, he even resorted to screaming when they began to disappear into the murky mist.

After disappearing from sight, Yugi's voice grew fainter and fainter, until it too faded into the forest. The silent ambience greeted Yugi's ears as he stared at the ground, his body pulsing with pain and numbness, as he tried to control his emotions. He had done so before, and he could do it again.

Yugi felt a soft touch to his hand, and looked down to see a blood soaked hand holding his, then seeing his bloody twin standing by his side. Sensing Yugi's sadness, the twin gave a small smile, and tugged on Yugi's hand to begin moving him. Yugi felt obliged to walk alongside his partner, glad for the company he had, even if his twin did not speak to him.

The other Yugi continued to walk through the woods, keeping their hands locked tightly, as he weaved around the trees and swung their hands lightly back and forth. Though nothing stood out from the bleak black scenery, his mirror image seemed to know where he was going, so Yugi put his faith into his duplicate to lead him through the woods.

After a while of treading deeper into the forest, the black mist slowly but gradually changed colour, bleeding out to a deep red colour. The trees, the sky, the ground, even the shine off of his twin turned to a blood like colour. But Yugi did not fear the change, he had little reason to, for he had stood in the face of fear itself before. The trees began to thin out, and an opening appeared from within, making his twin—and in turn, himself—stop at the edge of the grass to look out on it.

Scattered around the open area were many graves; makeshift or broken tombstones sitting at the top of a dirt pile, with no names or indications to who was buried under the dirt, and no care for the deceased. The graveyard was absent of a church, or a fence to protect the graves from the outside world, and a few of the dirt mounds had been uncovered exposing some parts of rotten skin. Despite its unappealing attraction, Yugi let go of his doubles hand, taking a few brave steps into the vicinity of the graveyard. His mirror image watched Yugi wander through the graveyard for a few moments, before turning on the spot, and skip away back into the forest.

As Yugi walked in between the rows of graves, Yugi gave a sad look to each broken cross and faded stone they each had, before moving on. Moving deeper into the graveyard, the graves became more abundant, and Yugi had to even resort to walk over the freshly piled dirt to continue walking. He soon reached the centre of the graveyard, stopping in between two mounds of dirt, Yugi looked around the seemingly deserted graveyard.

"In life, and death, everyone is remembered" Yugi muttered to himself "But in life…I am forgotten. So in death, will I be forgotten also?"

A deep, unsettling growl emitted from behind one of the graves, making Yugi turn his head to see who else was with him.

A wolf prowled behind the many unkempt tombstones of the graves, its black fur shimmering in the blood soaked light, and its large body barely concealed behind the stones and crosses. It soon walked out into view, sniffing the air briefly before turning its red hunter eyes to Yugi, seeing the teen stand on his own watching the beast. It then gave another growl, before rising up, and standing on its hind legs.

A werewolf.

Once it stood to full height, Yugi could see the human characteristics of the animal, and began to approach it carefully. Treading over the graves of others, Yugi locked his eyes with that of the beasts, sharing an everlasting gaze with the werewolf. Once a few feet away from the werewolf, Yugi halted and continued to stare up at the animal, as it did to him. No words or noises passed between them, only the heavy pants of the werewolf broke the silence, as the two attempted to figure out who was going to make the first move.

Breaking the gaze, the werewolf lifted its head, and gave a long and loud howl to the blood soaked sky. Its call echoed around into the woods around them, and shook Yugi's hearing at the strength of the sound, but Yugi continued to watch the beast with curiosity.

Yugi's eyes fell shut at the sound of the wolf, and his body became weak and almost non-existent, as he tipped back and hit the ground hard. Knocked unconscious, Yugi was left defenceless, and uncaring of what the world did to him in his sleep. The wolf fell silent at Yugi's fall, and once resting back on its forelegs, moved over to Yugi to make sure he was truly unconscious.

After the long absence of Yugi's disappearance, the police were called out, to see if they could track the missing teen. They scoured the path and the forest that Yugi had supposedly walked down, but there was still no sign of the missing teen, or any sign that Yugi had been there at all.

The only clue they found was his basket; with a loaf of bread, a jar of honey, some medicine for his grandfather, and a clump of white daises, which had died sitting on the edge of the basket.

* * *

That's it. I guess I shall leave this story on one note.

You all know what happened.

Review if you like!


End file.
